CJNG Members Including "El Jardinero's" Godson Arrested in Czech Republic While Buying Weapons for Drugs

 “Socalj” for Borderland Beat

Four members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, are facing federal charges after they were arrested in the Czech Republic. The men are accused of trying to buy military weapons with drugs trafficked into the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the indictment, Edgar Alejandro Lopez Velasco, Noe Diaz Jimenez, Leobardo "Bado" Gaxiola Lopez, and Jose Miguel Alvarado Morales are all affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a foreign terrorist organization and one of the most powerful and violent drug cartels in Mexico.

Audias "El Jardinero" Silva Flores

Lopez Velasco is a representative of an unnamed high-level CJNG member; Diaz Jimenez was a fentanyl trafficker with a fentanyl lab in Mexico; Gaxiola Lopez was a broker of narcotics and weapons deals; and Alvarado Morales is the godson of captured CJNG leading figure Audias "El Jardinero" Flores Silva.

Prosecutors say that in February 2026, Lopez Velasco and Diaz Jimenez negotiated the sale of machine guns and destructive devices from the Czech Republic to Mexico. 

The weapons allegedly were intended to be used against rival cartels, civilians, police and military personnel in Mexico and included European machine guns, RPG launchers, 61mm mortar launchers, ammunition and other ordnance.

European Visit

On June 10, 2026 the four men traveled to the Czech Republic to complete the sale of weapons for CJNG, and to negotiate the distribution of more than 400 grams of fentanyl and more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

They also met with a new potential supplier of precursor chemicals used to manufacture synthetic narcotics. All four were arrested on the evening of June 10, 2026, and the early morning hours the next day. 

As Alvarado Morales and Lopez Velasco have dual US/Mexican citizenship, they were extradited back to the US last week while the other men await their extradition proceedings.

Mexican authorities also dismantled Diaz Jimenez's synthetic opioid laboratory in Zapopan, Jalisco, on June 12, prosecutors said.

Source DOJ